As the market experts predict the magnitude of Holiday spending will increase by nearly 4% this year, an interesting cultural phenomenon is intermixing with traditional shopping habits in creating a new marketplace.
While the overall capital from earners projects to remain steady and trending upward, the physical manifestation of Christmas gifts on the hearth or under the tree, are being replaced by purchased experiences. There is no doubt that the reality of the digital age and online interactions have contributed to the paradigm shift of customers in the retail world. Never in the last century has there been such an aversion to the idea of clutter, as in the contemporary world, dictated by devices and virtual reality.
The Washington Post highlights the gravitation of consumers and especially family members towards buying fewer material goods in lieu of giving “intagible” items such as gift cards, tickets to events or creative interactions to friends and loved ones. With the resounding phase shift in gift giving ideology, the retailers have taken note and now offer shoppers an abundance of experience-based presents as well as an increased selection of on-site activities that caters to the entire demographic group of the family.
However, the experts warn that old habits may be hard to break and traditional ingrained consumer behaviors are altered in a time frame measured by glaciers. While the corporate retail entities are equipped to offer the ultimate shopping experience geared toward the younger generations, the idea of elaborate spending sprees fueled by panic and the spirit of the Holiday season, will not be on the endangered list anytime soon. The chance of a violent encounter at the shopping center over the last Nintendo gaming system on the shelf, is still a burgeoning component of the American dream.
Read the full Washington Post article here.